At Tautra, a tiny island in the Trondheim Fjord, a small group of women is walking their paths hand in hand with their Creator. The women, originally sent to Norway by Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa, came to Tautra in 1999. Since then the group of 7 nuns has been living in a small farmhouse, but a few years ago the resolution was taken to built a new monastery.
Tautra has a long history with monasteries. Around 1200 a Cistercienserchurch and monastery was built here, and played an important part of the religious life of the Trondheim area untill the reformation came in 1537. The ruins from this abbey can still be seen and visited at the island.
The new monastery is now finished. The official opening will be in spring 2007, and this September the nuns are opening up the whole monastery and inviting people in. We went there today. Took part in the prayer at "non" (the 9th hour), met the nuns, walked around in the different rooms and visited the soap factory. The Soap from the Tautra monastery is famous, and an important way for the nuns to raise money for their monastery life.
The monastery has its own webpage where you can read more about the history and the building progress.
As a protestant, monastery life has| always been alien to me. But as I grow older I am more and more fascinated by it. I can never become a nun, but spending a part of my life in a monastery, far from my worldly responsibilites, close to God, a life in prayers.....yes, I could really do that.
